Listen to Steve Lacy's Exclusive Playlist
The 24-year-old producer and alt-R&B star got his start by making beats, writing songs, and playing guitar for L.A. group the Internet as a teen. He went on to collaborate with some of music’s most boundary-pushing figures—including Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar, Solange, and Dev Hynes—before striking out on his own. “Being a producer for such icons and seeing so many processes at such a young age taught me how to be a better artist and how to get closer to my vision and what I want,” says Lacy. In July, he released his sophomore album, Gemini Rights, to critical acclaim, offering a genre-spanning mix of rock, R&B, funk, jazz, and hip-hop. “It’s a breakup album that captures me processing a bunch of feelings in real time,” says Lacy, who will promote the project on his Give You the World tour this fall.
For this issue, Lacy curated a playlist around the theme of icons, featuring tracks by contemporaries and legends alike. Along with Erykah Badu’s “Master Teacher,” which Lacy calls his “musical blueprint,” he included Kendrick Lamar’s “Crown,” for its “beautiful message” about not needing to please everyone, as well as “BPW” by Jazmine Sullivan. “Her lyricism and her voice—it’s as if Aretha was singing about booty calls,” explains Lacy of the Sullivan track. “It’s amazing.”
Listen to Steve Lacy's playlist exclusively on Apple Music.
This article originally appeared in the September 2022 issue of Harper’s BAZAAR, available on newsstands August 30.
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